Critical Hit – MMORTS & Strategy Games

04Feb

It’s Monday and you know what that means, another industry related ranting article from Blaine. This week he takes a swing at the lackluster MMORTS and strategy genres.

As a young gamer I can recall many a happy time spent playing titles like Command & Conquer, Age of Empires and Settlers but as the years past I found myself straying from a genre that was once very close to my heart. Was it because I discovered other areas in gaming? Was my age changing my tastes? I think not. MMORTS games and online strategy games as a whole are some of the most disappointing genres to hit the online space.

All of the big strategy games have ventured into the online world, Command & Conquer introduced Tiberium Alliances, Settlers Online came with Castle Empire and Age of Empires followed; yet none of these titles have come close to capturing the hearts of their biggest fans.

Although the big names have failed to bring the strategy genre to the forefront of MMO gaming, they at least provided something unique. Tiberium Alliances features an innovative combat feature and Age of Empires utilizes instances to provide players with their own town; but they all feature the same negative aspects. It’s far too easy to get cornered, surrounded by a hostile guild that wants nothing more than to destroy weeks of your hard work, and they all revolve around spending months of time in order to compete.

Obviously the strategy genre outside of MMO gaming is still thriving, titles like Starcraft II have proven there’s still a market and the popular MOBA genre also utilizes strategy aspects; but why isn’t there a true MMO strategy experience?

How do you feel about the MMORTS scene? Is it as good as it’s going to get or can we expect some bold developer to come and claim the crown?